Wednesday wrap

News, notes and quotes from the Raiders Wednesday following the open locker room session, practice and the post-practice press briefing from coach Tom Cable:

— Let’s get the legal stuff out fo the way first. When asked if there had been any change in the Napa assault investigation involving Randy Hanson and whether he’d been contacted, Cable said, “None from me.”

When asked if he had any comment on the assertion by attorney John McGuinn to the NFL Network that Raiders defensive backs had been contacting Hanson for advice through a borrowed computer, Cable managed a chuckle and said, “No, no. I have no comment on about any of that.”

— After talking about what a great job Bruce Gradkowski was doing as the backup for JaMarcus Russell, was surprised to hear such a soft response from Cable regarding the possibility of bringing back Jeff Garcia.

“We haven’t talked about it at this point,” Cable said. “That’s all I can say right now.”

That’s a long way from, the “No, we’ll move ahead with what we’ve got” answer I expected considering Garcia requested his release.

— There’s showing loyalty to your guys and then there’s, well it’s hard to say exactly what this is.

When asked about what it would take Javon Walker to get on the field, Cable said, “Well, I think right now it would take injuries. We’re about to get Schilens back. You feel like that group has really done some good things and you want to keep that going obviously.”

The group has done some good things and you want to keep that going.

Aside from the eight catches for 138 yards from Louis Murphy, Raiders wide receivers have caught two passes for 46 yards in three games. Todd Watkins has one for 28 yards, Darrius Heyward-Bey the other for 18 yards.

It’s not exactly like he’d be breaking up the lineup of the ’27 Yankees.

Maybe it’s that Walker simply can’t play anymore and that Al Davis doesn’t want to cut a receiver guaranteed $4.6 million this season and next season. Or that he’s simply sticking with the young receivers the same way he’s going with Russell.

But the “good things” haven’t exactly been visible to the naked eye.

— Kickoff returns specialist Justin Miller had a new home on the opposite side of the locker room and a professional outlook regarding his return to a team that sent him packing on the final cutdown day.

Miller averaged 24.8 yards per return and had returned two kickoffs for touchdowns with a long of 92 yards last year. He was even on the field in the secondary when the Raiders beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to close out the season.

He signed a new contract _ but didn’t make the roster.

“That’s the nature of this business,’’ Miller said. “You’ve got to understand how it goes. Sometimes it’s really not about you as a person, it’s just what fits for the team or what the team needs at that point in time. You take it in stride and try to be ready for the next opportunity.’’

— Fullback Oren O’Neal’s take on the “on any given Sunday” philosophy: “Every team in the NFL is an NFL team.”

— Defensvie end Greg Ellis had this to say about how a torrent of pregame enthusiasm means nothing when preceded by a subpar practice effort.

“It’s not anything we can correct five minutes before a football game by jumping around and slapping each other high-fives, yelling and screaming,” Ellis said. “You need that energy but you have to have a foundation with that energy. You start establishing that foundation for the week starting on Wednesday usually.”

Ellis on leadership: “I think it has to be more than one guy. You can have that guy who wants to yell, scream and cuss at other teammates but everybody in the NFL we’re grown men so we can choose how you respond to that firecracker guy if you will. The head coach can yell at you, anybody can yell at you but you as an individual have to take it upon yourself to say, ‘OK, I’m going to receive this stuff and I’m going to use it as a positive.’ ”

— Ellis and Richard Seymour agreed with Nnamdi Asomugha’s contention that last Friday’s practice was a big part of the Raiders downfall against the Broncos.

“I think we had a lot of mental errors. Friday practices aren’t tremendously physical practices. But it’s more of a mental day,” Seymour said. “And I think that’s something we all have to tighten up on if we want to be a good football team.

“You’ve got to be in the right place at the right time. The main thing is, what we want to do is take care of responsibilities and do your job. No one can do my job but me. I can’t go out and do the linebackers’ job, the corners can’t come up and do our job. So if everybody takes care of their own responsibilities, I think we’ll be a much better football team.”

“Hopefully everybody learned and we can go out there today and leading up to this game and be more concentrating in practice and eliminate mistakes,” added Ellis. “Early in the week you expect some mistakes because it’s a new, you don’t change the whole scheme but there’s some new things that coaches tell you, ‘For this team we got to do this.’ Today you can kind of expect some mistakes. But when you get down to Friday you expect for it to be real crisp, not so physical practice just crisp and not making
those mistakes.”

— Count Houston wide receiver Andre Johnson who believes the Raiders to be a warehouse of talent just waiting for a little direction and purpose.

“If they can just get things going in the right direction they’ll be a team to be reckoned with,” Johnson said in a conference call to Bay Area reporters. “ You look at the players on that team, it’s kind of like an all-star team.”

Which is exactly the kind of thinking which could lead the Raiders down the wrong path, Ellis believes.

“We’re not the golden child where we stand out enough talent wise where we can go out there and kind of BS through practice and think we can win,” Ellis said.

— Here is how Seymour, brought in to be a leader, plans to lead:

“ I think you lead by example. I’m not a rah-rah guy coming out and giving speeches. You go out and get the job done by your play in practice, preparation. Cause it’s really two games. It’s the game throughout the week as far as preparation. And then it’s also the game on Sunday. So we want to win both of those battles,” Seymour said. “And if we don’t do a good job throughout the week as far as preparation, then they’ll have the edge on us when it comes to the game. So it’s a process on getting it done, and I think guys are willing to put in that work.”

Seymour doesn’t plan on leading by talking about his previous place of employment.

“Man, I’m not in New England. I’m tired of the New England questions,” Seymour said. “That’s a chapter that’s over and done with, and I’m here as an Oakland Raider now. I’m a Raider, and that’s what it is.”

— Cable gave the Wednesday practice positive reviews.

“Today was excellent. It was tremendous focus,” Cable said. “We got the base plan in, tempo was good, effort was good. Shoot, I think maybe two or three repeats the whole practice so that’s what we’re looking for.”

— Cable was asked if Chaz Schilens returning to action Sunday was a “longshot” and answered yes, then in the next sentence said it was 50-50. Assuming the former unless Schilens is on the field Thursday. Also out are Robert Gallery and Nick Miller, while Hiram Eugene is questionable. Michael Huff did not practice but is expected to play. Mike Mitchell was practricing with his right thumb bandaged. Tyvon Branch had both thumbs wrapped but was not mentioned as being injured.

Jerry McDonald - NFL Writer

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KoolKell Says:
September 30th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Do you Einsteins ever wonder why otherwise top ten talent, comes here to die, over and over and over again, year after year?

There’s evil in the palace, it smells of death and decomposing flesh
=======================================================
KoolKell,

My point exactly. I posted that 19 of the Raiders 22 1st and 2nd round picks since 1999 have busted out….and one of the guys that didn’t bust was a kicker (Seabass)….yet everyone points their venom at the players. No one wants to assign responsibility to an owner that sets the offensive and defensive strategy and has sole discretion to picking the roster!

Everyone excuses Davis’ role almost exclusively.

DMAC, DHB, Russell, Huff, Gallery, Grove, Harris, Buchanon, Brayton, Teyo Johnson, Jolley, Washington, Routt, Bryant and on and on and on and on……

One or two players here and there….yeah….blame the player….19 of 22…that the organization and OWNER

SnB offense defense specialteams

Schilens should be rushed to play this week. Shoot him up with pain killer or whatever.

The Raiders chances are limited….without Schilens the chances are non-existant.

A loss against Houston signals the end of the season for all practical purposes…unless you like watching meaningless games!

Play Schilens at all costs

SnB offense defense specialteams

Start JLH and Schilens with Murphy in the slot.

SnB offense defense specialteams

Run the ball 45x…

Michael Bush gets 30 carries

Justin Fargas gets 10 carries

Darren McFumble gets 5 carries

SnB offense defense specialteams

Playbook on NFLN just broke down the play.

They said Russell had no other options and should have thrown it away…..Of course you have to be careful of intentional grounding in the end zone.

They sent ONE M’FN PLAYER ON A ROUTE AND LEFT EVERYONE ELSE IN TO BLOCK!

What B.S! THey just did the film study.

Tell Cable to fricken get it together!

This is a “playoff” game this weekend!

Tell Russell to freekn play…in fact I’ll do it like this!

If they play flat this weekend cut’em all!

Richochet

You could put the top receivers in the NFL on the Raiders, and it wouldn’t help JaMongoBuns with his accuracy. It’s not receivers getting open, it’s JR getting the ball to them.
It’s like saying “Russell can’t hit the broad side of a barn”. Even if you replace that barn with another one, results likely won’t change

—————————
SnB offense defense specialteams Says:
September 30th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Schilens should be rushed to play this week. Shoot him up with pain killer or whatever.

The Raiders chances are limited….without Schilens the chances are non-existant.

A loss against Houston signals the end of the season for all practical purposes…unless you like watching meaningless games!

Play Schilens at all costs

Einstein

As long as JaMcDonalds is our starting QB we have ZERO chance of beating the Texans..

Einstein

As if starting Schilens “at all costs” will produce a win. LFMAO.

SnB offense defense specialteams

– Cable gave the Wednesday practice positive reviews.

“Today was excellent. It was tremendous focus,” Cable said. “We got the base plan in, tempo was good, effort was good. Shoot, I think maybe two or three repeats the whole practice so that’s what we’re looking for.”
=======================================================
What nonsense! Show it on the field man! The Raider fan is sick and tired of performances like last week.

Give us a freekn PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM for a change.

1. A competent game plan
2. A QB that can complete a doggone pass
3. a receiver that can run a doggone route
4. A running back that…aw hell just start Michael Bush
5. A RT that doesn’t false start…already leads the league
6. A D-Line that doesn’t get manhandled!
7. A linebacker that isn’t afraid to hit someone downhill
8. A Defensive Coordinator that doesn’t have the MLB covering Andre Johnson

9. Change it up and fix this mess!

Kirk

Darren McFumble and Russell are busts.

The Raiders won’t admit this until after this season is over.

Watching Peyton Manning the other night just killed me.

Nnamdi21

Blah blah blah Just f’in win you losers!!!!

SnB offense defense specialteams

Einstein Says:
September 30th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
As if starting Schilens “at all costs” will produce a win. LFMAO.
======================================================
Well not playing him will all but guarantee a loss!

Raiders waive player acquired in Moss trade
Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on September 30, 2009 6:32 PM ET
They say you need three years to evaluate a draft class, but you don’t need three full seasons to evaluate a trade.

So let’s step on a limb and declare that Oakland’s trade of Randy Moss for a fourth-round pick in 2007 wasn’t Al Davis’ best move, especially after the Raiders waived cornerback John Bowie Wednesday. (And yeah, we know Lane Kiffin pushed for it. Davis still pulled the trigger.)

Bowie the player Oakland selected with the pick acquired for Moss. The speedster — is there another type of Raiders cornerback? — didn’t play much in his three years on the team, and struggled with knee injuries.

There was a report earlier Wednesday that Bowie was placed on injured reserve, but ESPN’s Adam Schefter confirms that Bowie was waived.

It’s not entirely fair to criticize Davis for the trade since Moss poisoned his situation in Oakland so thoroughly, but a second day pick for one of the greatest wide receivers of all time is a weak haul, no matter how you rationalize it.

SnB offense defense specialteams

How can the RAiders be so stupid and not put in a weight clause and some workload requirements in the contract?

Why not demand the guy show up and work every freekn day!

I am nearing the end of my capability to follow this team!

SnB offense defense specialteams

4evaRaider Says:
September 30th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
4evaRaider Says:
September 30th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
If Chazz isnt ready dont rush him back 4 the sake of 1 game…Thats sounds something a 49er fan would say
======================================================
A 49er fan? No not me….but I have a hell of a lot of respect for how Mike Singletary is taking that largely talentless team and OUTWORKING everyone they play against.

Our team with all these so-called Rockstars are getting run out of their own half empty housse to a team of cast-offs!

I am a Raider fan….but since when do we have to ACCEPT blindly and loyally efforts like last week?

SnB offense defense specialteams

4evaRaider Says:
September 30th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
You ok SnB???
=======================================================
To be honest…no! I’ve got tix to some Raider road games on the East Coast….and now I am not all that excited to go.

Why? BEcause the QB plays like a clown

THe 1st round pick is a bust

The RB (McFadden) is a joke to this point

And I have no faith in the coaching or the defense!

That’s why I am upset.

6yrs of this garbage.

Lose…that’s fine…I am patient and understand it takes time to build a team…but the team should be getting better and showing improvement!

When I see the 49ers, Bengals, Jets, Lions and others make improvements and then I read another stupid quote from CAble about “cutting it lose” “and good practice” or the QB and RB can’t play the game at all….I get p&S(Ssed

Since loyalty is all important to Al, he should hold the players responsible. Apparently all they’re loyal to is his checkbook and not repaying his faith in them to win with actually doing so. Stop stealing the teams money. Stop looking to the other guy to make a damn play. I am truly, truly disgusted.

SnB offense defense specialteams

The effort against San Diego was supposed to built on……that game might as well have been played in the 1980s along with the rest of the Raiders history!

Its B.S man! WHAT THE HELL DO THEY DO IN PRACTICE? SERIOUSLY? WHAT THE HELL DO THEY DO IN PRACTICE TO PLAY LIKE A BUNCH OF EXPLETIVES?

Youth is supposed to improve. To this point…Russell is garbage, McFadden is garbage, DHB is garbage, Warren, Kelly, Morrison are garbage, Green is garbage, carlisle is garbage, and Tom Cable and John Marhsall have shown TO THIS POINT to be totally incompetent.

And then you have Al Davis talking about “the will to win”

Show me on the field this Sunday man! This is a playoff game for this team.

Will someone tell this group of jokers to play to their freekn potential and win a damn game!

beeecham

4:30, must mean Krappy is finished with his afternoon nap, 3rd pant crapping of the day, his grandson Brian the Genital has logged him onto the blog and he’s posting as a Hot Pocket drips onto his bathrobe.

Looks like Little Ricky the Spazz is really losing his marbles today as well. I guess that’s what a Pop Rock sandwich chased by a Red Bull Big Gulp will do to a nervous system. That little dude is just plain screwy!

I still have yet to see anyone – Charged Down aside – get ruined on a regular basis like lil Ricky. I feel sorry for the little dude, but then again, I’m not the one doing 8 lines of meth under my bed every morning.

SnB offense defense specialteams

Seriously though! 6 year_+ of the worst football in NFL history.

I mean come on! Seriously! YOU HAVE TO SHOW IMPROVEMENT!

SnB offense defense specialteams

Some of you guys are ok with the losing. I can understand that. You are just happy to see the S&B play.

I was ok to a point. Not a 7th year of Bed and Breakfast football…No way!

Interesting to look back on this, we have virtually nobody (other than kickers) who has been on the team for longer than 5 years. Almost the entire core of the team has been assembled since 2007. Those awful drafts from 2001-2006 have set this team much further back than many of us realized at the time. We are like an expansion team essentially, but even Jacksonville and Carolina got themselves together faster than this. Our future rides on the draft picks from 2007 through 2009 and so far the returns are not good. If they all turn out like 2001-2006 picks, which is looking more and more likely, this team wont be competitive for at least another 5 years, ugh.

STILL…no one can explain how this team regressed so much from the week 1 game.

Other than everyone got lazy and thought the season was a breeze and the stupid coach went along with it…probably practicing celebrating TDs.

It makes no sense man! NONE!

This weekend is a playoff game! Get it together!

4evaRaider

I was disgusted after the Denver Broncos beat us last year the 1st game of the season last year…

But we got young talented players who are going 2 improve.

Last year we didnt start fast.This year we are not starting fast.And Gallery went down,Chazz,JLH and I guess the ex-Bronco dosent exist anymore.

We are injured AND young,couldnt happen at a worse time but we are injured AND young.

Soo maybe we will only be 5-11 or something,but you just hope for the best b/c there is nothing me or you can do except get ulcers or only look 4 the good that this team will be again,and I hope it starts Sunday against dem texan’s

WHAT THE HELL DO THEY DO IN PRACTICE? SERIOUSLY? WHAT THE HELL DO THEY DO IN PRACTICE TO PLAY LIKE A BUNCH OF EXPLETIVES?

*********************************

They practice plays where one guy goes out in a pattern, and don’t even ask me what they do on D in practice. No schemes, no new alignments, no blitz packages, just beat the man in front of you. How do you even practice that?

STILL…no one can explain how this team regressed so much from the week 1 game.

Other than everyone got lazy and thought the season was a breeze and the stupid coach went along with it…probably practicing celebrating TDs.

It makes no sense man! NONE!

This weekend is a playoff game! Get it together!

———————————————————

This team regressed because we have a QB by the name of JaPhillySteakandCheese that would rather eat and play Xbox 360 than work like every other NFL Qb. Cut and dry, black and white, plain and simple.

DKnight007

DKnight007 Says:
September 30th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
SnB offense defense specialteams Says:
September 30th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
What a stupid coaching staff and owner. So arrogant! “We aren’t making any adjustments…you just come beat us man up!” As if opponents don’t watch film! As if opponents don’t make adjustments at half-time”

This is bullsh000 man!

^^^^^^^^Yep! That is a BIG problem with this owner/gm, coaches and team…..unable or just unwilling to make ADJUSTMENTS to what their opponent is doing or trying to do….

STUBBORNESS AND STUPIDITY at it’s finest!!

Freakin joke!

Einstein

# vegas raider Says:
September 30th, 2009 at 5:03 pm

The Texans really aren’t that good, if we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot and play good ST, we should at least be in the game in the 4th.

The Texans are last in rush Def, almost last in points allowed, and turn the ball over. We handled them last year, so maybe Jamarcus will have his confidence high.

At least we don’t have to play on that infield dirt, this current Raiders team is awful on the dirt.

——————————————————-

We are awful on the dirt because JaSnickers thinks the dirty infield looks like a bunch of crushed Reeces peanut butter cups and it makes him hungry and he can’t concentrate when he is hungry. WHICH MEANS HE IS ALWAYS FN HUNGRY.

The defense (with Seymour and Ellis) still ranks 28th or so in run defense

And the coach calls almost 50% of all pass attempts deep!

Don’t accuse me of not being loyal and all that grade school crap. I am looking at this thing for what it is.

The Lions, 49ers, Bengals and good Lawd, the Broncos are all showing signs of getting better…and in some cases MUCH better.

The Raiders….keep running in place like a hamster on a wheel!

I just want a win! I dont’ want another lost season 3 or 4wks into the season. I am so sick and tired of that!

Come on man — Get it the F together!

^^^^^^^^Couldn’t have said it better myself buddy!

The running in place like a hamster on a wheel analogy is right on!

4evaRaider

4evaRaider Says:
September 30th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
I was disgusted after the Denver Broncos beat us last year the 1st game of the season last year…

But we got young talented players who are going 2 improve.

Last year we didnt start fast.This year we are not starting fast.And Gallery went down,Chazz,JLH and I guess the ex-Bronco dosent exist anymore.

We are injured AND young,couldnt happen at a worse time but we are injured AND young.

Soo maybe we will only be 5-11 or something,but you just hope for the best b/c there is nothing me or you can do except get ulcers or only look 4 the good that this team will be again,and I hope it starts Sunday against dem texan’s

Einstein

I miss Run Run Jones. May he rest in peace. I think he was more accurate at passing than JaPotRoast

Boss Raider 650

Seymour/Ellis are leading this team. Hopefully the players respond.

If they lose to the texans; all hell will break loose.
Russell will get benched, hopefully cut. Although $30M is pretty painful to lose with nothing to show for it.